Bitch Media - 2012 electionhttp://bitchmagazine.org/taxonomy/term/10644/0
enPolitical Party: Celebrate Good (Election) Times, Come on!http://bitchmagazine.org/post/political-party-election-results-obama-women-feminist-magazine-politics
<p>It was nail-bitingly close there for a while there last night, but the results are in: <a href="http://colorlines.com/archives/2012/11/mixed_results_on_ballot_initiatives.html?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+racewireblog+%28ColorLines%29"target="_blank">Obama will wear that POTUS hat for four more years</a>, at least <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/07/women-senate-2012-election_n_2086093.html"target="_blank">19 women will serve in the Senate</a>, three more states <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2012/11/07/gay_marriage_legalized_what_an_amazing_day_to_be_an_american.html"target="_blank">voted for same-sex marriage</a> (or as it's sometimes known, "marriage"), and <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/11/07/marijuana-and-same-sex-marriage-win-big-in-ballot-measures/"target="_blank">two states legalized it</a>. Yahtzee!</p>
<p><img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_md2n6dLqqF1rfgfeyo1_500.gif" alt="gif of Obama dancing in Single Ladies leotard" /><br />
<em>Put your hands up!</em></p>
<p>That hangover you're nursing right now was worth it: <a href="http://www.shakesville.com/2012/11/winning.html"target="_blank">Feminists have a lot to celebrate</a>! Not only did women crush it last night (<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/wp/2012/11/07/in-new-hampshire-women-win-all/"target="_blank">hey New Hampshire ladies!</a>) but rape apologists/deniers/ignorers <a href="http://jezebel.com/5958480/team-rape-lost-big-last-night"target="_blank">got their asses handed to them</a>. Don't let the door hit you on the way out, guys!</p>
<p><img src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/184l2dkp7f5mcgif/cmt-medium.gif" alt="gif of the US map wearing sunglasses and saying deal with it" /><br />
<em>Rape exists. DEAL WITH IT.</em></p>
<p>As is the case with any victory (or New Year's party) worth celebrating, I've spent the majority of today reliving last night's awesomeness. Join me! Some ways we can do this include:</p>
<ul>
<li>Rewatching/reading <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/11/06/us/politics/06-obama-election-night-speech.html?ref=politics"target="_blank">Obama's acceptance speech</a> (and recrying during the part where he says, "Michelle I have never loved you more")</li>
<li>Joining the world in its celebration of "<a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1112/83468.html?hp=l17"target="_blank">Hair Flag Lady</a>"</li>
<li>Delighting in <a href="http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/11/trump-is-election-nights-most-unhinged-goper.html"target="_blank">the shit show that is Donald Trump's Twitter feed</a></li>
<li>Looking at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151220226276738&amp;set=a.102749171737.90216.9432926737&amp;type=1&amp;theater"target="_blank">photos of all of the women in the Senate</a></li>
<li>Laughing at Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper's warning "<a href="http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/190695/colorado-gov-hickenlooper-on-pot-legalization-dont-break-out-the-cheetos-or-goldfish-too-quickly/"target="_blank">not to break out the Cheetos or Goldfish too quickly</a>" when the weed starts flowing</li>
<li>Glowing with pride that the US elected <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/07/politics/wisconsin-tammy-baldwin-senate/index.html"target="_blank">its first openly gay politician to the Senate</a>, <a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/elections/ci_21947729"target="_blank">its first Asian American (and Buddhist) woman to the Senate</a>, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/07/women-in-politics-break-records-2012-election_n_2088954.html"target="_blank">its first Hindu American congresswoman</a>, and <a href="http://blog.sfgate.com/nov05election/2012/11/06/big-night-for-women-rape-comments-hurt-gop/"target="_blank">its first disabled woman to the House</a>. (The fact that two of these kickass women are named Tammy surely hasn't escaped Ron Swanson's attention, either.)</li>
<li>Reading <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2012/11/the-malia-generation.html?mbid=social_mobile_FBshare&amp;t=The+Malia+Generation%3A+Women+and+Obama%27s+Win+%3A+The+New+Yorker"target="_blank">this <em>New Yorker</em> article</a> on how we're entering "the Malia generation"</li>
<li>Binging on <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/07/obama-supporters-gather-white-house_n_2085929.html"target="_blank">celebration photos like this one</a> of <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/07/election-night-gay-wedding-proposal-photo-_n_2089183.html"target="_blank">a ridiculously cute Maryland couple who got engaged last night</a></li>
</ul>
<p><img src="http://i.huffpost.com/gen/852327/thumbs/o-KEESHA-PATTERSON-PROPOSAL-570.jpg?12" alt="couple hugging after their engagement" /><br />
<em>Congratulations you two!</em></p>
<p>Of course, the US is far from perfect and last night's election results can't fix all of our problems (see: <a href="http://www.salon.com/2012/11/07/ole_miss_students_start_racist_protest_after_election_result/"target="_blank">the racist response to Obama's victory last night</a>, for starters). We've got <a href="http://colorlines.com/archives/2012/11/gender_justice_for_the_next_four_years.html?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+racewireblog+%28ColorLines%29"target="_blank">work to do</a>, sure, but we have reason to be optimistic. For the first time in recent memory, it feels like the tide is turning. <a href="http://www.salon.com/2012/11/07/a_womans_place/"target="_blank">The War on Women was unsuccessful because the majority of US citizens don't want to tell women what to do with their bodies</a>.The sexism, racism, homophobia, and ableism that have been the political norm in this country lost big because--maybe, hopefully--they aren't the norm anymore. As President Obama put it last night :</p>
<blockquote><p>What makes America exceptional are the bonds that hold together the most diverse nation on Earth…. It doesn't matter who you are or where you come from or what you look like or where you love. It doesn't matter whether you're black or white or Hispanic or Asian or Native American or young or old or rich or poor, abled, disabled, gay or straight.</p></blockquote>
<p>For the first time in a long time, it feels like he might be onto something.</p>
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/political-party-election-results-obama-women-feminist-magazine-politics#comments2012 electionBarack Obamafemale politiciansScienceWed, 07 Nov 2012 22:26:50 +0000Kelsey Wallace19805 at http://bitchmagazine.orgVote 'Em If You Got 'Em: Links For Your Election Day!http://bitchmagazine.org/post/election-day-roundup-feminist-magazine-vote-resources-obama-romney-politics
<p>Well, the attack ads are over, the convention floors have long been empty, and the event we've all been anticipating/dreading for what feels like our <em>entire lives</em> is finally upon us: It's Election Day! </p>
<p>To get you ready for your big day at the polls, we've put together some links on elections past, resources for voting in the presence, and info for the not-so-distant future. Now get out there and vote already!</p>
<p><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7273/8159943397_0d2c25a778.jpg" alt="postcard from the suffrage movement showing women playing cards while a man holds a baby in the back" /></p>
<h3>Back to the Future</h3>
<p>Considering <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/11/05/1140131/the-10-greatest-moments-of-the-2012-campaign/?mobile=nc"target="_blank">the barrage of information we've been under lo these many months</a>, it's easy to forget why we vote in the first place. Here's some historical context to help with your election fatigue.</p>
<ul>
<li>The Suffrage Movement wasn't all <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yRtEenwk7Q"target="_blank">fun and games</a> (it actually wasn't fun and games at all—I just wanted an excuse to link to that suffrage rap video). Some women in the early 19th century were <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeOHPfsCtFo"target="_blank">jailed, tortured, and silenced at every turn</a> in <a href="http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2012/11/05/these-women-did-the-heavy-lifting-all-you-have-to-do-is-go-vote/"target="_blank">their efforts to obtain the right to vote</a>. [YouTube, Ms.]</li>
<li>I say "some women" because we can't forget that <a href="http://www.theroot.com/views/how-racism-tainted-womens-fight-vote"target="_blank">the suffrage movement didn't include women of color</a>. (Not like <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/09/fear-of-a-black-president/309064/#"target="_blank">today's political machine</a> is still racist or anything. It is.) [The Root, The Atlantic]</li>
<li>Before someecards and Tumblr, those working against women who wanted to vote had <a href="http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/war-on-women-waged-in-postcards-memes-from-the-suffragist-era/"target="_blank">offensively hilarious and sadly familiar postcards</a>. Infantilizing women and using fear tactics to keep them away from the polls? Nah, that never happens. [Collector's Weekly]</li>
<li><a href="http://centuryofaction.org/index.php/main_site/document_project/oregons_colored_womens_equal_suffrage_league_and_the_1912_campaign"target="_blank">(Some) women here in Oregon got the vote exactly 100 years ago this week</a>. Check out some <a href="http://www.lwvor.org/members/lwvor-parade/"target="_blank">photos and video from the suffrage parade</a> and remember that it's your duty to get out there and vote! [Century of Action, League of Women Voters]</li>
<li>The history of voting itself in this country is BANANAS. Did you know the word ballot comes from the Italian word for ball because <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/10/13/081013fa_fact_lepore?currentPage=all"target="_blank">people literally used to vote with balls</a>? Insert balls joke here (but then read about voting history because it is really interesting). [The New Yorker]</li>
</ul>
<p><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7272/8159974485_f3b4e7677b.jpg" alt="people standing in line in Cincinatti to vote" /></p>
<h3>Poll Vault</h3>
<p>You may have voted already (good for you, citizen!), but if not, here are some links to help you do just that.</p>
<ul>
<li>This <a href="http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2012/11/05/have-you-completed-your-pre-election-checklist/"target="_blank">pre-election checklist will get you ready for the polls</a>. [Ms.]
</li><li>Find out <a href="http://canivote.org/"target="_blank">where you can vote and what you should bring</a>. [Can I Vote?]</li>
<li>If that link's a little too polite for you, you can also <a href="http://yourfuckingpollingplace.com/"target="_blank">find your fucking polling place</a>. [Find Your Fucking Polling Place]</li>
<li>If you want a star from <em>Law &amp; Order: SVU</em> to help you get to the polls, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrEYip0OPx4&amp;feature=youtu.be"target="_blank">B.D. Wong is on that</a>. [GottaVote]</li>
<li>If you aren't sure what your voting rights are, <a href="http://www.aclu.org/know-your-voting-rights-state-state-voter-information"target"_blank">the ACLU has some information for you</a>. [ACLU]</li>
<li>Voting While Trans <a href="http://www.votingwhiletrans.org/"target="_blank">also has some information for you</a>. [Voting While Trans]</li>
<li>People have already had <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/11/no-one-in-america-should-have-to-wait-7-hours-to-vote/264506/"target="_blank">awful experiences voting in this election</a>. If that happens to you or someone you know, <a href="http://www.866ourvote.org/pages/hurricane-sandy-election-changes"target"_blank">report it right away</a>. [The Atlantic, Election Protection]</li>
<li>You can also tweet or Instagram your voting troubles with the hashtag <a href="http://www.havingtroublevoting.com/"target="_blank">#TroubleVoting</a>. [The Daily Beast]</li>
<li>Waiting in line and want to feel less alone? <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/11/04/1136701/why-the-lines-are-so-long-in-florida-and-ohio/"target="_blank">Here's a slide show of voting lines in Florida and Ohio</a>. [Think Progress]</li>
<li>People waiting in long lines to vote need fuel for their democratic fires. Fuel in the form of pizza. Help <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/05/1156310/-Feed-the-Lines"target="_blank">feed the lines</a> in your neighborhood! [Daily Kos]</li>
<li>Remember to <a href="http://tigerbeatdown.com/2012/11/05/make-your-vote-count-and-look-out-for-others-while-youre-at-it/"target="_blank">look out for others when you vote</a>. [Tiger Beatdown]</li>
</ul>
<p><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7254/8160239471_008d9f5a1d.jpg" alt="vote 2012 sign" /></p>
<h3>Remember: It's Important!</h3>
<ul>
<li>Here are some reasons why <a href="http://colorlines.com/archives/2012/11/why_vote.html"target="_blank">voting in this election is critical for people of color communities</a>. [Colorlines]</li>
<li>Here are some reasons why <a href="http://nymag.com/thecut/2012/11/whats-at-stake-for-women-on-november-6.html"target="_blank">voting in this election</a> is <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kamala-lopez/women-want-more-vote-more_b_2062062.html"target="_blank">critical for women</a>. [New York magazine, ERA Education Project]</li>
<li>Here are some more reasons (in video form!) <a href="http://www.thenation.com/blogs/melissa-harris-perry#"target="_blank">voting in this election is critical for women</a>. [Melissa Harris-Perry via The Nation]</li>
<li>Here are some more reasons (in infographic form!) why <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/11/charts-voter-guide-war-women-ladyparts-infographic-election"target="_blank">voting in this election is critical for women</a>. [Mother Jones]</li>
<li>If your area was hit by Hurricane Sandy, here are some reasons why <a href="http://www.salon.com/2012/11/05/whatever_it_takes_get_out_and_vote/"target="_blank">voting in this election is critical for you</a>. [Salon]</li>
<li>Voting in a federal election might feel meaningless, but <a href="http://www.xojane.com/issues/voting-may-be-stupid-and-meaningless-but-you-should-do-it-anyway"target="_blank">it isn't really and you should do it anyway</a>. [Lesley Kinzel, xoJane]</li>
</ul>
<p><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7248/8160015917_bff2d62f2e.jpg" alt="Obama and Romney in The Last Debate" /></p>
<h3>For Your Infotainment</h3>
<p>Some links to check out as Election Day drags on. You know you won't be able to focus on work anyway.</p>
<ul>
<li>Play election boss with this <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/11/02/us/politics/paths-to-the-white-house.html"target="_blank">interactive 512 Paths to the White House</a> feature. [New York Times]</li>
<li>Here is a handy <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/11/05/164340876/election-guides-weve-got-em?ft=1&amp;f=1014&amp;sc=tw"target="_blank">guide to election guides</a> for when results start coming in. [NPR]</li>
<li>Follow Colorlines <a href="http://colorlines.com/brentin-mock/"target="_blank">Voting Rights Watch</a> for updates on attempts to limit the electoral power of people of color, and read accounts from community journalists. [Colorlines]</li>
<li>Feministing has an <a href="http://feministing.com/2012/11/05/the-academic-feminist-election-forum/"target="_blank">academic feminist election forum</a> for the brainiac in you. [Feministing]</li>
<li>Remember: <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2012/11/06/how_the_women_of_slate_really_voted_with_our_hormones.html?utm_source=tw&amp;utm_medium=sm&amp;utm_campaign=button_chunky"target="_blank">Women vote with our hormones</a>. We just can't help it. Periods! [Slate]</li>
<li>You know people are going to be spewing bullshit all day long. <a href="http://factcheck.org/"target="_blank">Call them on it and get the facts</a>. [FactCheck.org]</li>
<li>Speaking of bullshit... Want your candidate to finally say what you've been hoping he'd say? <a href="http://www.thelastdebate.com/"target="_blank">Tweet and make him talk</a> for you. Well, it's a picture of him with a robotic voice, but STILL. [The Last Debate]</li>
<li>Was that post you saw with the picture of Godzilla attacking the polling booths a little too good to be true? Remember to <a href="http://www.poynter.org/how-tos/newsgathering-storytelling/194006/6-social-media-mistakes-to-avoid-this-election-day/"target="_blank">think (and verify) before you share election news</a>. [Poynter]</li>
<li>What do you do when people you know or love vote against your equality? <a href="http://www.afterellen.com/content/2012/11/gal-pals-when-people-you-love-vote-against-you"target="_blank">Gal Pals: When People You Love Vote Against You</a> hashes it out. [After Ellen]</li>
<li>When it's all over, <a href="http://www.voteseeing.com/"target="_blank">track who predicted the right outcome and who was full of it</a>. [VoteSeeing]</li>
</ul>
<p>Have you read or written anything that might help your fellow feminists make it through Election Day 2012? Share it in the comments and GET OUT THAT VOTE!</p>
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/election-day-roundup-feminist-magazine-vote-resources-obama-romney-politics#comments2012 electionlinksvotingScienceTue, 06 Nov 2012 03:28:50 +0000Kelsey Wallace19781 at http://bitchmagazine.orgWomen of the Internet Tell Mitt Romney to Shove It in His Binderhttp://bitchmagazine.org/post/binders-full-of-women-mitt-romney-debates-feminist-magazine-meme
<p>If you watched the second US presidential debate last night I've got four words for you: "binders full of women." (If you didn't watch the debate, here are <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/binders-of-women-get-the-transcript-how-second-obama-romney-debate-played-on-social-nets/2012/10/17/cf4ad11e-1813-11e2-a346-f24efc680b8d_story.html"target="_blank">a few more words</a> for you: In response to a question about equal pay for women, Romney told moderator Candy Crowley that while he was governor of Massachusetts, he sought qualified women for his administration by going to "a number of women's groups asking, 'Can you help us find folks?' and they brought us whole binders full of women." Yeah.)</p>
<p><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8189/8096030104_058f3243c9.jpg" alt="Mitt Romney facebook page with binder background" /><br />
<em>Binder? I hardly know 'er!</em></p>
<p>During a 90-minute peacocking session—Candy Crowley, you deserve a medal for moderating that alpha brofest—that was filled with sound bites, "binders full of women" is the one that stuck. And it stuck <em>hard</em>. At the time of this post (three hours post-debate), a <a href="http://bindersfullofwomen.tumblr.com/"target="_blank">widely shared Tumblr</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/Romneys_Binder"target="_blank">Twitter account</a>, and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/romneybindersfullofwomen?ref=stream"target="_blank">Facebook group</a> were already up, running (200,000+ fans), and hilarious.</p>
<p><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8186/8096040019_9a29b7b20b.jpg" alt="tweet from Mitt Romneys binder" /><br />
<em>It's Ladies Night (in my binder)!</em></p>
<p>So why the binders meme? Well for starters, Mitt Romney is not exactly known as a champion of women. In fact, over the course of his unending campaign, he's proven himself to be <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/17/romney-binders-full-of-women"target="_blank">quite the opposite</a>. And like so many questions he's dodged so far, instead of answering the question about equal pay, Romney pulled an anecdote out of his ass about a time he <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/closeread/2012/10/mitt-romney-and-the-question-of-charity.html"target="_blank">used his largesse to help one person/a binder of people</a>. A nice story, but hardly a Trapper Keeper full of fairness and equality. </p>
<p>As Emma Keller <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/17/romney-binders-full-of-women"target="_blank">puts it</a>, "The [binder] phrase objectified and dehumanized women. It played right into the perception that so many women have feared about a Romney administration—that a president Romney would be sexist and set women back. And it turns out the way Romney presented it—that he asked for a study of women in leadership positions—<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/16/obama-romney-second-debate-live#block-507e2fe658f91d7bbadac763"target="_blank">wasn't true anyway</a>." She's right; <a href="http://blog.thephoenix.com/BLOGS/talkingpolitics/archive/2012/10/16/mind-the-binder.aspx"target="_blank">it wasn't</a>.</p>
<p><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8326/8096023234_77216204cd.jpg" alt="Mitt Romney in front of a group of women holding a binder. Text reads Lord of Three Rings" /><br />
<em>Three rings to rule them all.</em></p>
<p>Like Romney's Big Bird comment from the first debate, his statement was asinine AND picturing "binders full of women" (or <a href="http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/05/romneys-attack-on-big-bird-sows-confusion-abroad-and-feeds-it-at-home/"target="_blank">the firing of a giant bird</a>) is also funny. And since—despite <a href="/post/douchebag-decree-daniel-tosh-rape-culture-feminist-magazine-comedy-jokes-women"target="_blank">so much gum-flapping to the contrary</a>—many feminists are really fucking funny, a delightful meme was born. Delightful because it pokes fun at the Romney campaign while reminding people that <a href="http://www.nwlc.org/resource/wage-gap-faqs"target="_blank">the wage gap is realer than Candy Crowley's moderating skills</a> and <a href="http://www.politicususa.com/mitt-romneys-misogynistic-agenda-designed-punish-woman.html"target="_blank">Mitt Romney is a misogynist who wants to restrict the rights of the women he's got trapped in those binders</a>. That hypocrisy, and the way the Romney binder jokes underscore it while making us laugh at the same time, is why this photo of Hillary Clinton is the most popular version of the meme yet:</p>
<p><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8185/8096023322_0a898f0890.jpg" alt="hillary clinton making fun of mitt for using binders" /><br />
<em>FWIW, binders can be useful if they are filled with paper and not, say, women.</em></p>
<p>Mitt Romney has ignored women and women's issues at every turn of his campaign, and he can't expect to talk a semi-good binder game at this point and get away with it. Using women as a talking point to get votes when you're planning on throwing women's rights under the bus is not okay, and the whip-smart funny women of the Internet aren't letting Romney get away with it. Another example of this righteous bullshit-calling is this SchlepLabs video from Monday where Rosie Perez calls Romney to task for saying he'd have it <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/19/opinion/navarrette-romney-latino/index.html"target="_blank">easier if he were Latino</a>:</p>
<p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/EVIrNxba0ls" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>Mitt Romney doesn't care about women, and the women of the Internet are using humor, smarts, and technology to prove it. In an election cycle that is downright depressing for feminists, memes like these are the silver lining in the War on Women cloud. </p>
<p>Now, who wants to wear a binder with me for Halloween?</p>
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/binders-full-of-women-mitt-romney-debates-feminist-magazine-meme#comments2012 electionBarack Obamainternet cultureMitt RomneySocial CommentaryWed, 17 Oct 2012 05:50:12 +0000Kelsey Wallace19380 at http://bitchmagazine.orgThe 99%: Class Warfare and the Privileged Politics of Mitt Romneyhttp://bitchmagazine.org/post/the-99-class-warfare-and-the-privileged-politics-of-mitt-romney
<p><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7159/6642402527_60bd114c03.jpg" alt="Mitt Romney in front of a sign that says ASK MITT ANYTHING. He is in a black suit with a red tie" width="375" height="249" align="left" hspace="10" />
</p><p>Tuesday evening, hours before very narrowly winning the Iowa caucus, Mitt Romney said that President Obama's policies would "<a href="http://www.boston.com/Boston/politicalintelligence/2012/01/mitt-romney-accuses-president-obama-engaging-class-warfare/vApeJAIfEgTgmeYsrJsFBL/index.html">substitute envy for ambition and poison the American spirit by pitting one American against another and engaging in class warfare</a>."</p>
<p>This new darling trope of conservatives—the idea of class warfare broadly, and against the rich, specifically—is a little bit completely infuriating.&nbsp; Fox News has used the term <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/12/22/obama-cant-win-with-crude-class-warfare-in-2012/">again</a> and <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/12/30/class-war-coolidge-response/">again</a> to describe any attempt to bring attention to the inequality in this country. It is, apparently, "class warfare" to point out that the concentration of wealth in this country is held by a very, very small minority of people. I'm sorry, but the class warfare <em>is not in discussing the inequality, but the fact that such extreme inequality exists in the first place.</em>&nbsp; Traditionally, class warfare is understood <em>not</em> to be the practice of criticizing the rich, but the damage to people done by poverty.&nbsp; It's a war with fronts in the workplace (where people face unsafe working conditions, coercion, or union busting), the grocery store (where people can't afford sufficient food for their families, or must face the stigma and judgment that comes with using benefits), the schools, the judicial system, or nearly any other institution. It's practically farcical that the media, controlled by a select few members of the most privileged echelon of society, can co-opt the language of class conflict first developed by Marx and Weber to describe merely drawing attention to inequality.</p>
<p>The bigger farce, though, is Mitt Romney—the <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2012/01/03/romney-is-richest-candidate-in-a-decade/">richest candidate in a decade</a>, and the richest plausible candidate in far longer—claiming the President's policies are class warfare.&nbsp; It's almost as laughable as Romney <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/12/14/1045403/-Its-Republican-class-warfare!-Mitt-Romney-slams-Newt-Gingrich-for-spending-$500,000-at-Tiffanys">referring to Newt Gingrich</a> as "a wealthy man… not a middle-class American" as a criticism. Sure, Newt isn't a middle-class American. None of the candidates are. But, you know what Mitt? You have $250 million dollars.&nbsp; You're not even the middle of the top one percent.</p>
<p>This is the thing, though: I think it's okay that you're rich, Mitt. I believe it is possible for wealthy leaders to lead well, provided they listen to their constituents and recognize their privilege.&nbsp; Except for a string of presidents elected during the nineteenth century's burst of populism, all our leaders have been really rich.&nbsp; This is a problem, to be sure, but it's been around for hundreds of years. Fixing it will require a serious overhaul of our class-based institutions, including the campaign finance system and that whole corporations-are-people and money-is-free-speech thing.</p>
<p>The bigger problem, I think, is for someone with as much money as you, Mitt, to stand up there and talk about your political opponent as being very wealthy without acknowledging your own wealth.&nbsp; And I think it's downright absurd for you to stand up there and talk about class warfare as if you haven't reaped the extraordinary benefits of class privilege in our country.</p>
<p><strong>Previously:</strong> <a href="/post/the-99-champagne-toasts-and-caviar-receptions-buying-the-american-wedding"target="_blank">Champagne Toasts and Caviar Receptions: Buying the American Wedding</a>, <a href="/post/the-99-money-cant-buy-you-love-class-feminism-the-bachelor"target="_blank">Money Can't Buy You Love (and it Might Get in the Way)</a></p>
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/the-99-class-warfare-and-the-privileged-politics-of-mitt-romney#comments2012 electioninequalityMitt RomneySocial CommentaryThu, 05 Jan 2012 18:23:44 +0000Gretchen Sisson14503 at http://bitchmagazine.orgPolitical InQueery: False Dichotomies in the Race for Presidenthttp://bitchmagazine.org/post/political-inqueery-false-dichotomies-in-the-race-for-president
<p>News of the early election season has been swamped by the stalled debt ceiling vote in Congress, but the proposals put forth by Speaker of the House Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Reid are sure to factor into stump speeches by the GOP candidates for president. And because this is my farewell in this series for Bitch Magazine's blog, I'd like to point out a few things regarding analyzing the rest of the early election campaigning. Like this: beware the false dichotomy.</p>
<p><strong><img style="float: left;" src="http://rob-gevers.com/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=ss:war-games-quote.jpg" alt="shot from War Games" width="350" height="258" hspace="10" />False Dichotomy #1:—Taxing vs. Spending.</strong> Republicans would have us believe that the Democrats want the biggest, most bloated government possible, and the Democrats tell us that Republicans are so anti-tax they're willing to tank the whole country for their principles. Neither statement is exactly true. But we need to get honest about how the American system works best, at least in theory: with each class paying what it can afford, and with a responsible level of corporate taxes to keep business healthy but not unfairly low. Of course there are programs that each of us would rather not support, but as a nation we're a collective, so it's not all about any one of us, and we've been too entranced by media pundits who think individual entitlement trumps that collective need. Taxing and spending aren't polar opposites; they're parts of a process on which the government is founded.</p>
<p><strong>False Dichotomy #2:—Morality vs. Immorality.</strong> Before the 1930s, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Reefer-Madness-Larry-Ratso-Sloman/dp/0312195230" target="_blank"><em>cannabis</em> was legal to produce and consume.</a> Why? Because nobody deemed it a morally questionable activity. Once it became popular with white college students, legislators in Washington, DC criminalized the sale and use of the plant, originally brought to the states as a crop by the Spanish in the mid-1500s. Morality shifts over time, over generations, and when candidates for president talk about moral behavior, it's only to get votes on their side or away from their opponent. Because the religious right and the Tea Party right are not one in the same community, these moral arguments may get bandied about more than usual this primary season, strung along distinct lines of Christian values and the purpose of government, as each group tries to exert its influence over the GOP. I hope that such conversations will not cause any collateral damage, as often people or groups get caught up in the invective of these debates—witness what happened to Planned Parenthood's funding during the last budget debates.</p>
<p><strong>False Dichotomy #3:—Real World vs. Internet.</strong> Having a foot in both camps for more than a decade now, I personally am exhausted by the argument over which is more important, or the idea that we can dismiss Internet discussions because they're not happening face-to-face. On the other hand, I can recall virtual arguments where my own bricks-and-mortar activism was dissed as an example of my privilege of not having a social anxiety disorder. It gets ludicrous fast, this dichotomy. We have Tunisia and Egypt as examples of how websites can be used as tools to bring about real world change, or how the insatiable information demands of the material world create the rise of the Internet itself. Once upon a time, the web was just a bunch of computers stitched together for the US Army. I bring this up in an election post because elections are another example of this breach between the two spheres. Online donations, online presence, blogs, discussion forums, endlessly streaming videos of candidates and around-the-clock campaign coverage: all of it has radically altered how politicians run for office, and as I've written about before here, has significantly upped the pressure on candidates. Just look at how <a href="http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/09/the_top_ten_christine_odonnell_quotes.php" target="_blank">Christine O'Donnell's</a> 15-year-old statements came back to haunt her, all over the web, or how a joke about <a href="http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2011/05/rick-santorums-google-problem-resurfaces-with-jon-stewart-plug.html" target="_blank">Rick Santorum</a> still hangs around as a taunt more than five years after Dan Savage started it.</p>
<p><strong>False Dichotomy #4:—Individual Rights vs. Special Interests.</strong> Americans love the story of the little guy up against the juggernaut, and triumphing against all odds. It makes for great movies. But the term "special interests" now means close to anything, not just powerful international conglomerates or spy syndicates. GOP members use "special interests" to include LGBT activists, or environment activists, Democrats use it to mean Ken Lay or big funders like the Koch Brothers, and radical progressives use it to mean almost everybody. Maybe such "special interests" support individual rights. Maybe people, again, shouldn't have so many entitlements that no matter what, they get deference over some group that is lobbying Congress. What group doesn't lobby Congress, after all? The point of a representative government is to listen to constituents and support them as well as possible and practicable. This dichotomy only creates an obstructionist atmosphere and makes it harder to identify the actual tensions at play in a specific debate or issue. And it overplays the rights of the individual over the country.</p>
<p><strong>False Dichotomy #5:—Success vs. Doom. </strong>We're hearing this one a lot right now, as we head into the Total Final Destruction Sequence next week, when our debt hits the ceiling we've set for it. Since 9/11 the rhetoric has sounded the alarm, every election. David Vitter won his 2010 midterm election, and he had one of the most offensive, anti-immigrant television ads of the cycle, showing how the US was about to be overrun with Latinos sneaking across our borders. (See False Dichotomy #2.) We've heard that our demise is imminent at the hands of Arab terrorists, pro-choice activists, and gay people insistent on destroying marriage. But for our votes for candidate X, the US is about to drop into hell. It obviously isn't true, but it plays a powerful role in whipping up angry sentiment before election day, and it's almost certainly going to hit high gear once the general election campaign begins.</p>
<p><strong>False Dichotomy #6:—Republicans vs. Democrats.</strong> There are notable differences along social programs and the way one undertakes in-party debate, yes. But until President Obama took office, both parties voted to raise the debt ceiling whenever it came to a vote. Both parties stood on the steps of the Capitol and sang "God Bless America" after the terror attacks in 2001. For decades they have swapped majority and minority status and worked across the aisle to greater or lesser degrees of success. And a lot of the differences they describe between them just isn't all that true even if the starkness of presumed mutual exclusivity is more newsworthy. More helpful to the country is an honest accounting of where the parties differ and why.</p>
<p>I'm tired of dichotomies because I'm tired of reductive, anti-intellectual thinking. I live in a small, isolated town in the remnants of the Old West, and as a born and bred Northeasterner, I'm used to people getting in my face and telling me what I think. Well, what I think now is this: we "elite" progressives and the "gun-and-god-clinging" rednecks have a lot of the same interests with regard to our financial security, physical needs, and want of happiness. I for one aim to find bridges to people who don't think the way I do and just leave the politicians out of it.</p>
<p>All my best to you all this and every campaign season. For more of me, please feel free to stop by my blog, <a href="http://transplantportation.com" target="_blank">Trans/Plant/Portation</a> and say hello.</p>
<p><strong>Previously:</strong> <a href="/post/political-inqueery-depart-the-representative">Depart the Representative</a>, <a href="/post/political-inqueery-mourning-in-a-busy-internet-world">Mourning in a Busy Internet World</a></p>
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/political-inqueery-false-dichotomies-in-the-race-for-president#comments2012 electionScienceFri, 29 Jul 2011 23:23:47 +0000EvMaroon11544 at http://bitchmagazine.orgPolitical InQueery: Why the GOP Will Fracturehttp://bitchmagazine.org/post/political-inqueery-why-the-gop-will-fracture
<p><img style="float: right;" src="http://michaelhaltman.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/death-spiral.jpg" alt="a photo of two ice skaters in a death spiral" height="207" width="311" />I've avoided talking about the debt ceiling debates for as long as the people on the Hill have avoided doing anything about the debt ceiling itself. Also, it's hard to make financial ratings, credit defaults, and inadequate remedies sound like popular culture—unless, I guess, we're talking about how the mortgage crisis took over the news media for a solid two months in 2008. But hey, there are now signs of progress and more interestingly, those signs point to an impending doomsday for the Republicans, and not just in the 2012 election. So good for you debt ceiling! You made the cut for this series.</p>
<p>When someone says, "This will put the US into a death spiral," even the most anti-government of the GOP listen. And when the person saying "Death Spiral" is from a major credit rating agency, and is using it to say that missing the debt ceiling deadline will be worse than the nightmare that faced Lehman Brothers, well, I'm surprised they didn't have to haul out fainting GOP members of Congress and apply witch hazel or something to their faces to revive them.</p>
<p>So what happened yesterday, and why am I pointing so excitedly to it? <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0711/59612.html" target="_blank">House Republicans held a closed-door meeting</a> with officials from Wall Street credit agencies. Afterward, there was a lot of dampening down of the meeting's tone. It was called "objective," "dispassionate," and "not nearly as apocalyptic as the phrase 'death spiral' made it sound," according to the Politico reporting. While I'm still working on my fly-on-the-wall impersonation, I can only speculate that the meeting was probably rather straightforward. And yet it still signals some kind of ending for the GOP's experiments in right-wing zealotry.</p>
<p>I think it means the pendulum is about to swing back. Not quickly, not with any apology for the last 25 years of conservative creep to the right, but we will have to start to see a regression toward the center from the GOP.</p>
<p>Why? They've simply run out of room to move rightward. When their most expressive faction is willing to send the entire country into default on the misguided principle that they're for "smaller government," then the experiment is nearing an end. Those powerful, big-money Koch Brothers who managed to gut unions in Wisconsin through their governor intermediary? They don't want to see the US in default.</p>
<p>Maybe the GOP's biggest donors wouldn't even mind a default if it were passed to another generation to fix (which this certainly would be), but <a href="http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/26/what-happens-if-the-debt-ceiling-isnt-raised/" target="_blank">some of the biggest calamities will happen immediately</a>, like the US Treasury bond market collapsing. That alone would cost US taxpayers another $75 billion a year, but it would also devastate foreign corporate sponsorship and investment.</p>
<p>Next, ths US sovereign credit rating will be downgraded. This makes it more costly for the government to take loans from foreign nations, and destabilizes most, if not all, of our domestic banking and credit markets. Now those Republican backers are hurt where it counts, in interest rates. Add to this a probable run on money market accounts--which is exactly what happened to Lehman Brothers, and possibly why they were brought up in the House Republicans' closed meeting. If we all thought the bailout in 2008 was an extreme measure, that now looks like a little loan from grandma in comparison. This isn't what mainstream GOP party members want, but they've had to pretend for the last several weeks that they're considering letting us touch the debt ceiling. All manner of gutting the government budget has been discussed, but a lot of this now looks like they're letting the posturing happen so they can walk away saying they gave equal time to all serious ideas.</p>
<p>Thinking back to 1994, with Newt Gingrich as the newly elected Speaker of the House, and the <a href="http://digitas.harvard.edu/%7Esalient/issues/941212/page4.html" target="_blank">GOP "Contract with America,"</a> we can see some of the roots for this party's crisis. It codified sentiment against "bigger" government, it threw social issues like welfare (using the guise of "personal responsibility") into calculations for federal financial spending, it asked individuals to consider whether the monolith of "the government" was helping them find the American Dream or not, and was suspicious of the government's ability to put the interests of its people ahead of its self interest. Certainly some of these ideas—like the greedy welfare queen—were Ronald Reagan's inventions, but Mr. Gingrich put them into contract form and insisted his fellow Republicans sign it as they took over control of the House. It was a kind of mentality training, and it sharpened the rhetoric used by the GOP in the so-called culture war with liberals.</p>
<p>We are at the point now where that culture war is facing pushback from not just those liberals, but from working and middle class union members, reproductive rights activists, students, civil rights activists, health care providers, and educators. Recall elections in Wisconsin have all been won so far for the progressive side of the ticket, and just this week in Ohio, voters gathered three times the number of signatures needed to put <a href="http://business-journal.com/sb-referendum-makes-fall-ballot-p19620-1.htm" target="_blank">a repeal of their governor's union busting law</a> on the November ballot, before the law ever gets to take effect in that state.</p>
<p>If much of the pressure to "cut, cap, and balance" is coming from first-term Republicans in the House as they seek to please the Tea Party segment of their party, it may speak to a developing schism within the GOP; extreme conservatives will likely be more than disappointed with the eventual outcome negotiated by President Obama. But mainstream Republicans and incumbents know that the government needs its credit rating to operate. In other words, old-school Republicans will have to admit on some level that they aren't really anti-government, or even anti-big-government. And in the meantime, Tea Party candidates may be making a very bad name for themselves.</p>
<p>What the debt ceiling crisis asks us to think about are our interpretations of the 2008 bailout, where the borderland is between individual, collective, and governmental responsibility for our country's success, the structure of our voting system, and the longevity of any group who seeks to undo federal systems as part of the federal system.</p>
<p>Way to go, debt ceiling! Thanks for making us think. Please go away now. Perhaps we are nearing a moment when we can talk about what government can do well for its citizens and residents.</p>
<p><strong>Previously:</strong> <a href="/post/political-inqueery-where-the-doma-ends">Where the DOMA Ends</a>, <a href="/post/political-inqueery-on-deck-gop-candidates">On Deck GOP Candidates</a></p>
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/political-inqueery-why-the-gop-will-fracture#comments2012 electiondebt ceilingextremistsGOPScienceFri, 22 Jul 2011 17:19:53 +0000EvMaroon11405 at http://bitchmagazine.orgPolitical InQueery: On Deck GOP Candidateshttp://bitchmagazine.org/post/political-inqueery-on-deck-gop-candidates
<p><img align="right" src="http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2011/07/18/alg_clinton.jpg" alt="Hillary Clinton cheers for the US Women's soccer team" hspace="10" width="485" height="342" />While the US Women's soccer team (our Secretary of State is a big fan, as we can see here) went to the World Cup finals against Japan and the last Harry Potter movie demolished the box office record for an opening weekend, three quiet news accounts about new candidates for the White House filtered through the press. es, World Cup soccer is more exciting (at least at the finals level--penalty kicks! accusations of faking injuries!), but there are interesting aspects to these three candidates, I swear. What were the political rumbles about? Read on!</p>
<p>Texas Governor Rick Perry <a href="http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/07/here-comes-rick-perry-tx-gov-all-but-announces-hes-in.php" target="_blank">has all but announced he'll be running for President</a>. This weekend the quote was, "I'm getting more and more comfortable every day that this is what I've been called to do. This is what America needs."</p>
<p>GOP enthusiasts love to see governors (current or former) make a run for the chief executive's office because they have a much more successful history of winning. Individuals with gubernatorial experience also have an easier time supporting their case for president, because they've already worked in the executive branch of a state and had to negotiate with legislators and justices.</p>
<p>As for Governor Perry, party insiders have been asking him to run for many months because he covers most of the Republican electorate's wish list: he's from a Southern state (the largest in the union, and one with an international border), a self-identified Christian, pro-death penalty, anti-abortion, anti-tax, and, for people who still long for the Bush era, George's successor in the governor's chair. All of the weaknesses attributed to the other GOP hopefuls—Romney's Mormonism, Cain's lack of governing experience, Bachmann's dearth of experience across many issues, including foreign policy, Pawlenty's too-niceness, Gingrich's divorces and tendency toward getting nasty, and Santorum's um, santorum problem—Perry has none of these. Whereas many of these candidates have been struggling with raising funds (even Romney, one of the frontrunners), Perry has Big Oil money, Koch Brothers interest, and a veritable line of funders ready to put money into his coffers.</p>
<p>There's just one thing: Sarah Palin may be running, too—as an independent, not under the auspices of the Republican Party. What could be more maverick-y, anyway? <a href="http://www.suntimes.com/news/washington/6528122-417/bachmann-gains-while-palin-sits.html" target="_blank">While Ms. Bachmann's polling numbers climb</a> past Ms. Palin's popularity, it's starting to look like Sarah will make an announcement either way very soon. What would a third candidacy look like? It could be the groundwork for another profitable book, or free her from the derisive muttering from GOP insiders that hounded her during the 2008 election, and probably leak enough votes from the eventual GOP nominee to ensure a reelection for Mr. Obama. It could even cause some controversy among GOP convention delegates who want to cast their votes for her instead of who the party has backed.</p>
<p><img align="left" hspace="10" src="http://whitehouse2012.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/buddy_photo_for_websites1.jpg" alt="Buddy Roemer" width="300" height="390" />The last bit of quiet news to eke onto the scene this weekend was Buddy Roemer getting ready to announce his candidacy this Thursday. What, <a href="http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/03/who-buddy-roemer-republican-presidential-candidate" target="_blank">people don't know who he is?</a> Well, he was the governor of Louisiana. And his campaign message about why he's running was just heart-rending: "We're ready to move forward."</p>
<p>Really? That's it? Nothing about the grave need among Americans for a better future? Or getting us on the right track? Or curing the ills in our society? Perhaps the rhetoric is being saved, like gold after the Armageddon, for Thursday's press conference.</p>
<p>He is good at spin, really. Having raised just $41,000 for his election, Roemer said that this was a "good" sign, because he refuses to take any PAC money and is keeping his donations to $100 or less. Let the conversations about McCain-Feingold election reform blossom again on Capitol Hill. Or not. But as a former Louisiana governor who hasn't ever been indicted, he's got integrity on his side. He did lose in a past election to David Duke, who by the way, has announced his own bid for the presidency.</p>
<p>By this summer's end, we should have a much lighter GOP field.</p>
<p><strong>Previously:</strong> <a href="/post/political-inqueery-to-gay-or-not-to-gay-educate">To Gay or Not to Gay Educate</a>, <a href="/post/political-inqueery-the-fake-democrat-experiment-fails-miserably">The Fake Democrat Experiment Fails Miserably</a></p>
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/political-inqueery-on-deck-gop-candidates#comments2012 electiondebt ceilingWorld CupScienceMon, 18 Jul 2011 18:41:41 +0000EvMaroon11311 at http://bitchmagazine.orgPolitical InQueery: The Fake Democrat Experiment Fails Miserablyhttp://bitchmagazine.org/post/political-inqueery-the-fake-democrat-experiment-fails-miserably
<p><img style="float: right;" src="http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/azstarnet.com/content/tncms/assets/editorial/3/03/934/30393476-783f-5b82-aeb9-ef6961e48f59-revisions/4dc61a2d36aad.image.jpg" alt="recall them all poster held up by an older white woman at rally" width="310" height="216" />
</p><p>Lots of people attempt to manage election laws; it happens all the time. We've seen it in vote-counting, with one side or the other suing their way into forced recounts after a close election. Of course there's "gerrymandering," named after a real Mr. Gerry, former Governor of Massachusetts, who passed the law that let legislators create serpentine voting districts in order to secure future victories for himself and his party. Then there are the donations, donors, special interests, and allied organizations who each attempt to influence election outcomes—and I'll take a look into those next week—but first, we have something of a creative response to playing with elections:</p>
<p>Fake candidates.</p>
<p>As noted a little while back, part of the fallout from Governor Scott Walker's union-bashing law—in which he and his fellow Republicans pushed through significant restrictions on collective bargaining while the Democrats were holed up out of state—was the push to hold recall elections for as many eligible GOP state senators as the voters could muster. They gathered enough signatures to put <a href="http://powerwall.msnbc.msn.com/politics/wisconsins-recall-madness-begins-1694886.story" target="_blank">six of the people who voted against the unions into recall elections</a>. Naturally, the GOP leaders tried to find a way to buy more time to prepare (read: secure election financing).&nbsp;</p>
<p>They figured out that they could get another month before these recall elections if there was more than one Democrat on the ballot, because then there would need to be a primary before a general election for each office. Six people switched their parties in order to be that extra Democrat, and thus the "Fake Democrats" were born. In Wisconsin's open primary system, people from both parties may vote for either candidate, and there was some speculation that Republican voters may turn out to vote for the fake candidates. But the final results were clear: all but one of the party-back Democrats won by at least 65 percent of the votes, and the sixth won with 54 percent.</p>
<p>August will determine the general election winners, and the one-month delay may not be enough to make Wisconsin's electorate forget last spring. The movement to recall the governor himself is also picking up speed—Walker can't be recalled until he has served a year of his term.</p>
<p>It looks as if <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/230290-US-Recall-Elections-Surge-in-Local-and-State-Governments" target="_blank">recall votes are experiencing a resurgence among unhappy voters</a>, especially if the Democrats pick up three seats and regain control of the state senate. Other calls for recall elections have already sounded across the country:</p>
<ul>
<li>Arizona Governor <a href="http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wnij/news.newsmain/article/0/0/1827016/US/Arizona.governor.orders.recall.vote.for.immigration.law.author" target="_blank">Jan Brewer opened a recall election for Russell Pearce</a>, the architect of the anti-immigration law SB 1070, after citizens gathered enough signatures to force the election; the election will take place on November 8</li>
<li>The Mayor of Miami-Dade <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/16/us-usa-florida-election-result-idUSTRE72F0EC20110316" target="_blank">faced a recall vote in March and lost</a>, after raising taxes</li>
<li>Signatures to oust the governors of Arizona, Wisconsin, and Michigan are underway</li>
</ul>
<p>It was 2003 when Democrat Gray Davis was kicked out of the California governor's office, but after that recall election there was no surge in similar movements. In 2011, however, the political universe is more polarized and contentious, and there are now some 20 recall elections in progress, an all-time high for the United States.</p>
<p>Before we all run to our election boards to remove people from Capitol Hill for playing with the country's financial rating, consider this: only 18 states allow voters to remove senators by recall. They are: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin.</p>
<p>You know who is working on recall elections in these 18 states? The <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/*/index" target="_blank">people who want to remove any senator</a> who voted for health care reform last year. Because recall votes could, by definition, become constant re-elections.</p>
<p>At that point, governance begins to look like a very different prospect.</p>
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/political-inqueery-the-fake-democrat-experiment-fails-miserably#comments2012 electionrecall electionWisconsinScienceWed, 13 Jul 2011 17:09:27 +0000EvMaroon11224 at http://bitchmagazine.orgPolitical InQueery: Tier-Two Glitterbombshttp://bitchmagazine.org/post/political-inqueery-tier-two-glitterbombs
<p><img style="float: left;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_JTU-3MjE5Vo/TReUr4igtVI/AAAAAAAAA3E/7Qe9hPZnhPU/s1600/bvp.jpg" alt="Vander Plaats" height="367" width="237" hspace="10" />Looks like Michele Bachmann is the frontrunner again for poor decision-making, having signed a pledge from <a href="http://www.thefamilyleader.com/"target="_blank">The Family Leader</a>, an arch-conservative Iowa group, that included lots of cockamamie and offensive statements like the following:</p>
<blockquote><p>Slavery had a disastrous impact on African-American families, yet sadly a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African-American baby born after the election of the USA's first African-American President.</p></blockquote>
<p>Yes, Bachmann signed this pledge to agree to all of the "vows" it listed—the above section is part of the marriage declaration—in order to get the group's endorsement in the election. This tiny exchange is so full of wrong, bloggers and reporters have been trying to unpack it since it happened last week. In addition to the many, many erroneous generalizations it makes about pornography, LGBTQ issues, slavery, and what marriage should look like, it codifies the most anti-intellectual attitudes in our election process and attaches political power to them. That active candidates (who receive millions of dollars in donations to be the individual who will govern the laws and policies of our land) should take such a rambling declaration of bigotry seriously is testament to the notion that not only have we shifted further right-ward, but that we're cleanly off the rails altogether.</p>
<p>I expect that Vander Plaats, the founder of The Family Leader, will be <a href="http://wonkette.com/447779/glitter-bomb-strikes-tim-pawlenty-at-book-signing"target="_blank">glitterbombed</a> soon. If Newt Gingrich got a dose of party supplies for his anti-gay stance and writings, surely some of the pink stuff is coming Plaats' way, for his having written that being gay leads to increased mortality. I don't think he's referring to hate crimes when he brings that up, either.</p>
<p>Who else is risking a date with decoration? My list looks something like this:</p>
<p><strong>Kurt Zellers—</strong>Speaker of the House in Minnesota, <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0711/58682.html" target="_blank">who continues to be paid during the government shutdown</a>, while 22,000 state workers are now unemployed. Do not mess with Minnesota activists, Mr. Zellers. They've already struck twice. Other GOP officials have declined to receive their salaries while the budget is being negotiated. I think having a functioning government is better than abstaining from payment, but at least it's a gesture that makes sense.</p>
<p><strong>Judson Phillips—</strong>The oft-named "head" of the Tea Party movement, he's an advocate for <a href="http://www.alan.com/2010/11/30/tea-party-leader-wants-to-restrict-voting-rights-to-property-owners/" target="_blank">restricting voting rights to property owners</a>, and has crafted much of the language around access to voting (read, check everyone's citizenship) that got picked up nationwide this year, which I wrote about a few weeks ago. Fully 27 states put something about restricting voting rights into their legislative process this spring. Taking away people's ballots? That seems to be high-risk behavior for getting a glitterbomb in one's lap.</p>
<p><strong>Barack Obama—</strong>Well, thank goodness the President came out and <a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/wires/live_wire/live_wire.html#825" target="_blank">said that Social Security isn't the source of the deficit</a>. He must read <em>Bitch</em>. But it could be too late, he may already be on the glitter patrol list somewhere, for offering to put Social Security on the table in debt ceiling and budget negotitations. With some activists, like AARP members, he's on thin ice. It could be that a fistfull of glitter could remind him that he needs those voters in 2012.</p>
<p><strong>Herman Cain—</strong>He could have some glitter coming his way for saying at an Iowa campaign stop that the US should protect its border with an alligator-filled moat and an electrified "Great Wall of China." Yes, he said this in early June, but it only recently got noticed. Hispanic groups have called on him to drop his candidacy. Running as far back as he is, Iowa's results may cause him to do just that, all on his own. And whom did he say this to, by the way? Vander Plaats and The Family Leader.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/political-inqueery-tier-two-glitterbombs#comments2012 electionglitterbombsMichele Bachmannpolitical activismScienceMon, 11 Jul 2011 18:25:20 +0000EvMaroon11191 at http://bitchmagazine.orgPolitical InQueery: The Someday Senator Baldwin?http://bitchmagazine.org/post/political-inqueery-the-someday-senator-baldwin
<p><img style="float: left;" src="http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/host.madison.com/content/tncms/assets/editorial/c/56/103/c56103de-9d69-11df-b904-001cc4c002e0-revisions/4c556ae9c0de7.image.jpg" alt="Tammy Baldwin" height="242" width="300" hspace="10" />Earlier this week, seven-term Rep. Tammy Baldwin said she was "likely" to run for the Senate to become Wisconsin's junior senator. After all of the strife in Wisconsin this spring, it was welcome news to progressives, who lost longtime Senator Russ Feingold in the 2010 midterm election and who have been in agony since Governor Scott Walker took union workers' collective bargaining rights away in support of some of his major donors, who include the Koch brothers. What would a run and win for Ms. Baldwin look like, and what could some of the sticking points be?</p>
<p><strong>She may likely be up against a Tea Party-endorsed or very conservative candidate:</strong> Again, the Koch brothers have a lot of commercial interests in Wisconsin, and the last several months have been something of a proving ground for Republicans. Brothers Jeff and Scott Fitzgerald, for example (one is the state House Speaker and the other is the Senate State Majority Leader) could decide between themselves who should run. In any case, there will be a lot—and I mean a <em>lot</em>—of money put up against her campaign. But the Democrats really want to win this one; while many of their party's losses in the 2010 midterms came from places that they'd only held for a few years, the Feingold loss was unexpected, and it hurt. Democrats want to reclaim a Senate seat.</p>
<p><strong>Her campaign will have to interact with all of the efforts to recall state senators:</strong> Much of the aftermath surrounding Gov. Walker's dismantling of collective bargaining involves the electorate getting angry and informed about how to remove elected officials they think aren't serving the government interest. In the talk about Tammy Baldwin considering a Senate run, nobody seems to be worrying that resources to support her will suck away momentum from<a href="http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Laws_governing_recall_in_Wisconsin" target="_blank"> the recall drives</a>. It could very well be that the two movements add to each other, if people coming out to vote for Ms. Baldwin decide to also vote to recall their state senator. There have probably already been discussions among Democrats in Wisconsin about how to stage a Senate campaign in the current climate. There will be more.</p>
<p><strong>A Baldwin vs. Conservative GOP election may get very ugly:</strong> It is difficult to articulate the level of anger in Wisconsin these days, with residents upset the governor would act so unilaterally, with conservatives riled up about recall petitions and signature collection, and with so much in the Madison newspaper about corruption in state government. I expect Ms. Baldwin to take the high road, at least at first, and talk about re-engaging with government. Both sides may be seeking some kind of retribution of the other, and it will probably boil over as some kind of proxy in the fight for the Senate seat. And yes, someone is going to say something ignorant about Ms. Baldwin's sexual orientation at some point.</p>
<p>If Tammy Baldwin gets elected to the United States Senate, what then? Well, there are several possible developments:</p>
<p><strong><img style="float: right;" src="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-10/02/xin_55210050210370621857013.jpg" alt="United States Senate floor chamber" height="273" width="399" hspace="10" />It won't be the Barney Frank show anymore: </strong>As a fellow Representative, Ms. Baldwin has had to defer to Mr. Frank on more than one occasion, most notably around his yanking of transgender protections in ENDA. But in her own chamber, as the first out LGBTQ elected leader *cough Larry Craig cough* she can introduce her own legislation, and push back on bills that the House—via Mr. Frank—has written by introducing language in the Senate that then gets hammered out in committee. It puts LGBTQ interests in a much stronger position to have an advocate in each chamber, and it is, after all, the Democratic prerogative to do good work by disagreeing with each other. If that disagreement translates to opening up new protections for people, all the better.</p>
<p><strong>Baldwin is a dedicated Representative with a spotless record:</strong> Tammy Baldwin has missed one percent of the votes in the House since she took office. She's been there 99 percent of the time and has never even had an ethics charge against her, much less sent crotch shots of herself in the House gymnasium looking buff. Conservatives may not like her voting record, which is among the more left-wing in the House, but they can't say she's not engaged with the issues.</p>
<p><strong>Baldwin will have more power as a Senator: </strong>Yes, this is true of anyone in the Senate, because it is a much smaller group of people. But consider this: Tammy Baldwin has introduced 96 bills since taking the oath of office in 1999, and 82 of them have died in committee. Three were enacted, mostly about health issues. She may find better traction for her ideas in the Senate, which requires fewer cosponsors to get noticed.</p>
<p><strong>Baldwin has a history of sticking her neck out for her issues:</strong> Just this year she sponsored a resolution to remove the deadline for ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment. In the wake of the Supreme Court's <a href="/post/political-inqueery-scotus-and-the-limits-on-the-rule-of-law"target="_blank">refusal to award 1.5 million female Wal-Mart employees damages for unfair wages</a>, what legislation could a Senator Baldwin sponsor to support workers when they make claims against private companies? During her tenure in the House, she's sponsored bills to support veterans, children, working class women, sexual assault survivors, environmental issues, and people in domestic partnerships. The Senate could use fearlessness like Baldwin's after their strange need in 2009 and 2010 for a supermajority to feel secure about pushing legislation. Remember the anxiety around filibusters?</p>
<p>Over the next several months, these Senate races will take shape, and whatever mood the public is in will become part of them. If Wisconsin voters stay angry long enough to make it through this election cycle, it will be a bruising, bare-knuckled fight for the Senate. But I can't think of many people more able to handle that fight than Tammy Baldwin.</p>
<p><strong>Previously:</strong> <a href="/post/political-inqueery-mistakes-gaffes-annoyances"target="_blank">Gaffes &amp; Annoyances</a>, <a href="/post/political-inqueery-the-week-in-absurdifensiveness"target="_blank">The Week in Absurdifensiveness</a></p>
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/political-inqueery-the-someday-senator-baldwin#comments2012 electionBarney FrankTammy BaldwinScienceWed, 06 Jul 2011 16:58:07 +0000EvMaroon11124 at http://bitchmagazine.org